Bloodlines
by Knight Watcher
Summary: Her past holds more sway over her life than she likes.  Secrets from that past now hunt her.  Huntress becomes the hunted after murders implicate her as the killer.  It'll be up to him to help her again because no one else will do.
1. Families

_The Bertinellis are one of the oldest families Gotham City, going back more than a century. Giuseppe Bertinelli at the age of 12 left his home town Cimina and like many others he went from Sicily to America in search of the promise of a better living. This better living eventually led to Giuseppe's initiation into the emerging mafia families, but it is his willingness to kill that earns him his place. It is not simply a matter of kill or be killed within mafia ranks as death is all too familiar to them._

_Prohibition Era Gotham proved to be a gold mine for the Five Families, but Giuseppe was not content to be the first among equals. He made alliances with the Galantes and the Berettis. Shortly thereafter they were competing against the Cassamentos and the Inzerillos for control of alcohol smuggling. This rivalry sparked a war between the families. Giuseppe lost three sons in the fighting, but omerta as expected was exacted upon those responsible for the deaths of his sons._

_The Inzerillos in fear of further retaliation turn against the Cassamentos and in effect end the war between the families for a time. Giuseppe turns into Don Bertinelli. Furthermore the Five Families bestow upon him the title Capo Di Tutti Capo or the Boss of Bosses._

_The Cassamentos make it known there is no forgiveness for either the Inzerillos or the Bertinellis._

_Giuseppe having become a self-made man knew well that he would not live forever and had already lost much to forge the foundations of his family's future. Old age soon claims the old man._

_Alfredo, the only surviving son of Giuseppe Bertinelli, ascends from Under-boss to Boss and takes his father's place as Don Bertinelli. This bloodless transition marks the first time in nearly three decades that there is a relative peace for the Five Families. The peace held until the Panessas' arrival with Tomaso Panessa at the forefront demanding that the Panessas assume their place as the Sixth Family._

_The feud between the Bertinellis and the Panessas continues for more than a decade. The tension simmers with the meeting of Franco Bertinelli and Maria Panessa. Tomaso presumptuously thought that his little sister marrying Franco would end the deadlock that kept the Panessas from becoming an equal among the Families. Like before nothing changes for the Panessas much to Tomaso's frustration undoubtedly._

_Franco ascends to Boss of Bosses and Don with the passing of his father Alfredo._

_Maria becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter._

_A daughter who is baptized under the name Helena Rosa Bertinelli and she would come to grow up in what could be seen as a happy family life. Her parents seem very much in love and dote almost excessively on her. The only figures that loom large in her life besides Franco Bertinelli is Santo Cassamento who retains the Cassamento's grudge against the Bertinellis and the other is Franco's most trusted friend Steven Mandragora._

_It would however be Mandragora who moves against her family as she remembers too well to ever forget in the years that follow the night her family died. As for whether the other Families had seen Mandragora's intentions that would remain speculation, but surely he had been acting on his own that night._

_In the wake of the murders of Franco and Maria Bertinelli, the Galantes took over everything previously run by the Bertinellis while the Panessas assume the position previously held by the Galantes in their alliance with the Bertinellis. Tomaso Panessa finally had what he been trying to get out of her father since before she was born._

_The Panessas took in Helena Rosa. As for why they would look after that is a question Helena thought she always known the answer for, but nobody in the Five Families made a move against Mandragora. Instead everything went on as usual, but nobody forgot what he had done, especially not her._

There were some things about that night and what led to that night that have never been spoken yet known to more than a few. Silence however is not without a price. The Panessas would always keep that in mind yet even silence cannot protect those who keep it from those who think by having the words, they hold the power to manipulate others.

It is this fear that hounds and shadows the Panessas more so than the other Families. Everyone has secrets and some are worth a lot more alive than dead.

* * *

Someone kicks the door inward. The man drops his cigar before he goes for his gun yet as he turns to aim it at the intruder something lodges itself in the gun barrel. The gun blows apart in his hand. He back pedals in pain while the intruder advances on him. He keeps swinging, never lands a blow, but absorbs more than his share as his blood splatters to the floorboards under his feet. In all the days, by all the ways, the man had been wondering whether his time would come or would he pass peacefully.

He whispers of God and salvation. The silence is its own answer. The answer is no.

He knows he is far from first and likewise far from last, but it appears his would be killer is not clocking him out immediately so it meant a shakedown. The method didn't fit anything he had ever seen before. It meant the intruder wants something from him before sending him to the death that's long hounded him throughout the years. The intruder however had little to say with words yet in return he said little as well. He bore the torture as if suspecting his suffering would not last indefinitely. For once in over forty years of life he found a glaring truism. Everyone has it coming, no matter what they call it.

He feels pain for the last time when another bolt plunges into his chest on its way to his heart. His breathing becomes erratic, his pulse weakens rapidly, and true to his prediction he is on death's door. The final sensation to hit him is the impact of being thrown into the water and the coldness in his limbs spreads just as his blood mixes with the river.

* * *

The difference between a corpse and a witness is the former can't lie while the latter can be made to lie unless something compels honesty over survival.

Somehow the floating dead man gets attention and the GCPD makes the scene yet the arrow bolt in his chest is a red herring to the officers at the scene. Renee Montoya had it up to here with being at the scene of high profile murders yet working in Gotham meant she'll meet for them for first time on their last day. Renee recognizes the DOA from the crime family photos, which means she'll have to drag the Commissioner into this one and likewise it means calling in Batman because of the arrow bolt. For Renee the bolt is too obvious a clue for a COD.

It just didn't fit with what she believes to be true about the individual she knows this bolt implicates as the murderer of a high ranking mafia personality.

"So who wants to tell me what we have got with this one?" asks Gordon grimly.

"This is Claudio Panessa. From the looks of it, he's only been dead a few hours," Allen flatly states.

It is difficult for Montoya to emotionally distance herself from her working relationships with various costumes so often she looks to Gordon for cues. At times she feels that maybe even Gordon feels as uncertain as she does when working with the costumes.

"Panessa is one of the Five Families, but this Panessa was a high echelon member of the Galante Family. To be exact he was a capo régime, a valued lieutenant to the family, but its still early days…"

Batman emerges from the shadows and kneels next to the deceased Claudio Panessa.

"So have you been shadowing us again or did you already know Batman?"

"This doesn't look like a family hit, but Panessa's death will start things moving."

All four glance at each knowingly as they regard the arrow bolt still in Panessa's chest.

The scent that precedes a rain storm gives way to raindrops. Gordon quickly motions for Panessa's body to be taken away. As for Batman, he had other places to go because the trail to the true face of this mystery starts with the individual that the arrow bolt implicates as Claudio Panessa's killer.

* * *

_They believe they know me._

She stood almost motionless as the water cascades towards her face, dampening her hair, and streaming down her bare skin. It had been another long night, but those were increasingly frequent her daytime profession tunneling its way into her night life. It made for a share of hard decisions yet his support made it possible for her to believe she could give back despite everything that taken or nearly taken from her over the years.

_They think they know my wants or needs._

She wishes he was in the stall with her. She misses him, but he had things to do tonight and it would have been all to distracting to get work done with him around. He has however always find his way in before and after she'd fallen asleep. He never saw her the way others did and that always made all the difference for her. She didn't know whether to think something akin to "reserving judgments as a matter of infinite hope" or "I have my faults, but changing my tune is not one of them."

Whatever ways he thinks of her and towards her matters more than her words could say to him. He from the look in his eyes understands this well. He found his way inside her mind that first night they were alone together in his old car. It took her by surprise, he kept surprising her, but each was different from the first. It would seem there is a truism to the first time for everything yet she fears a last of anything from him… with him… losing him is not something she could handle. She believes the same is true of him in regards to her given what happen last year when she was a test subject for Scarecrow's latest strain of fear gas.

The nightmare hadn't been a full revelation to her. It simply made her vividly familiar with how easily everything could fall apart when tragedy strikes fully.

_Why I am what I am._

She steps out of the shower and quickly wraps a towel around her body before going to find her robe. Her out-of-costume wardrobe is paid for by her inheritance and her teaching salary. She pulls out undergarments from a dresser drawer. Next she sits down after letting the towel drop to the floor and then pulls up her dark purple underwear before sliding on her bra. It is a quick maneuver to fasten the bra hooks. The final piece is a plum sweater dress.

It had been a gift from him on her birthday no less. She didn't go into asking how he pays for things because her mother taught her when an inamorato gives you a gift you accept it. She also said you always wear when you think of him, wear it for special times, and so the wordless meaning is understood.

_My past however never seems to leave me alone for long._

It had proven exceptionally difficult to overcome concerns and prejudices because of her family history. Being a Bertinelli is a matter of family for her yet because of how her family made their fortunes made many suspicious of her intentions. There is no hidden or ulterior purpose to her becoming a teacher yet in time she had proven herself to those who reluctantly let her teach at Gotham Heights High School.

Her male students were always so obedient yet her female students often felt some resentment for the boys paying more attention to her demands than theirs. They could settle their 'problems' with them in the after hours, but within certain walls she always held a captive audience. Her only release between teaching and Huntress is when she is with him yet she would have it no other way with him. Whenever she thought of him, it usually brings a smile to her face.

Occasionally something interrupts her reverie from things she does with him, but that usually comes from memories of her parents' murder or the time he took bullets for her. He still bore scars from those wounds yet the intensity between them is not something brought out by violence. She would never believe that, but their lives are often plagued by violence of one kind or another. Sometimes she wishes he would leave the Justice League instead of continuing to risk himself on an international scale, but she also knows, he would never do that, he considers all things on all levels to tie together in the conspiracy.

Costumes are his family, but she is his _**inamorata**_.

_My father Franco Bertinelli taught me many things as a little girl, but most important to him was always family. Family made him hide me in the closet and left me alone to witness his death along side my mother so I saw my loving parents die violently._

_Familiarity between me and Batman ends at dead parents._

Batman has had many costume partners, but each found a way to fit into his way, not all were consistently happy with his way or with him. Happiness doesn't always factor into looking after Gotham. As Batman would often say all that matters is the mission. Traits that made him well him are both inspiring and frustrating, but that's the shadow of the bat.

She always knew that she was someone that would rarely be welcome, let alone accepted into his circle, but oft times that never mattered to her. Her concerns with her place in that world do not extend much further than the faceless hero who kept her from being a murderer in the past.

As she is in the midst of drying her hair, an all too recognizable noise can be heard from the sitting room. It means Batman or one of the others is in her apartment. Unless it is someone else who manage to get all the way up here without coming through the door with its multiple locks and a rather sturdy deadbolt.

She knows how to get in and how to break out. It takes two elements to execute either action.

_One is the know-how. _

She focuses on noise alone. The sheer lavender curtains hanging on the far window are flapping. It is the intruder's point of entry.

_Two is tools of the trade._

She taps a hidden button in the frame of the mirror hanging over her ornate dresser. She retrieves her crossbow. It would be necessary to threaten the intruder because she knows letting anyone tread through your home without an invitation is a dangerous thing, but there are many kinds of dangers in this life.

The intruder is Batman so even with him there she does not lower her crossbow because she notices him holding an arrow bolt similar to the ones she uses for her crossbow. Something is up and it did not take long for Batman to explain his reason for dropping in unannounced tonight.

"What have I done to earn your interest again?"

"I am the one asking the _**questions**_."

"Usually that would be _**his**_ specialty."

"We all have questions."

"Few ever ask, especially not you."

"What does that mean?"

"Can we stick to your questions instead?"

He looks to prefer to stay on track and as for her, the sooner he learns what he seeks… the sooner he is out of her hair at least for tonight if nothing else.

"Your whereabouts this evening?" resumes Batman flatly.

"This has something to do with that?" counters Helena sharply.

She gestures to the arrow bolt in his gloved fist.

"Claudio Panessa's body was found floating in the river earlier tonight…"

Batman holds up the arrow bolt as if encouraging her to inspect it and its clear he doubts the possibility that she is innocent, but then she recalls her father's lesson about the pursuit of justice.

_You want justice served? You want vengeance taken? You want honor restored? Then do it yourself. _

Batman and his allies tend to work closely with police which is an outfit that maintains law and order. The GCPD is Gotham's response to the persistent criminality.

"… with this in his heart."

It is an inescapable reality that no matter what she does as Huntress, she will always have the history and the name tied to her for as long as she lives.

Batman looks at her expecting some kind of response, but to her it almost seems like he made up his mind before coming here to confront her with this.

She is tired out from her day work hours as an aspiring teacher and lately her nights have been more about paperwork than rooftop escapades.

"You see that stack of paperwork? That's been my whole night for awhile now."

"You look like you have been soaking."

"So I shower after a long night of papers."

She starts twisting her damp hair around her free hand while keeping the other firmly gripping the crossbow in an unwavering aim at Batman.

"You think I did… that's why you are here."

"Family is family especially among Sicilians."

Although he is right about the family part, she did not care much for her extended family because they did nothing when Mandragora went on his rampage eliminating almost the entire Bertinelli family. However she maintains a friendly demeanor when anyone from the Five approaches her.

"He was a capo for the Galantes."

This is not news to her as she kept her own knowledge of the Five Families even after doing her best to distance herself from them over the years.

"He was tortured before he died."

"I didn't do it."

It is likely to her that the more she refutes his unspoken assertion, the more he assumes she is guilty, but what she wonders does he think she gains from dishonesty when it involves the Five Families.

"You don't seem surprised."

"Well, I am. I'm surprised it took this long for Cousin Claudio to get his ticket punched."

She lets go of her damp hair and points her left index finger at him before continuing.

"The Panessas are the worst of the Five Families and you know it… my mother was the only good person to come out of that particular gene pool," Helena seethes visibly.

They stare at each other, but his glare does not bother her. He is still unconvinced of her innocence yet this is no surprise to her because when Batman makes his mind, only he can change it.

"Did you kill him?" repeats Batman.

"Go to hell," hisses Helena.

He turns to leave and with his back to her, he vows that if there is blood on her hands, he will take her down himself.

She felt singled out by all this because she is the only costume who operates with weapons in Gotham.

_If a body bobbed to the surface with razor-sharp batarangs… he'd never doubt Nightwing's innocence. Never for an instant._

She slams the open window shut and checks the lock after locking it to ensure nobody else drops in on her from up here.

_But a Mafioso gets whacked with a crossbow and I'm immediately the prime suspect. Because after all, the Huntress is crazy. _

She plops her body down into her favorite armchair. On the end table next to it stands her favorite portrait of her and her mother. It was taken the same year her mother died. Memory and fact cancel each other out as her smile is neither a grin nor a frown.

_I'm not crazy. This is about family.

* * *

_

Helena for a long time believed that the Panessas had protected her from those responsible for the deaths of her family yet now feels less certain of that now that somebody shot, tortured, and drowned Claudio Panessa.

Helena Rosa Bertinelli is due to pay her respects because she is still part Panessa.

She goes into her room sized closet to find something suitably black for what is sure to be a mourning gathering for Claudio. Her apartment is somewhat lavish for a teacher, but then its no manor house either.

After finishing with her black dress, she admires her figure for a moment in the full body mirror. She applies faint purple eyeliner to her eyelids and dark lipstick. She pulls up black sheer nylons and slides her nylon covered feet into black heels. Before heading out, she slides on the ring given to her by Vic after the Queens' wedding.

It is a rainy evening for a family mourning gathering. She recalls the rain from her parents' funeral. Then she remembers the first time she kissed Vic in the rain. They both paid no mind to being drenched to the bone. Helena uses a remote key-less remote to unlock her Lamborghini. Another not-teacher element in her life, but then she got it because of its Regalia paint job.

She would take the long way to the Panessa Estate over on Long Island. The route would pass her favored summer home when she was a little girl. Somewhere along the way she thought of Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in _**Sabrina**_. It was one of the films she watched with Vic during their first year together as a couple.

It would as usual be a patience trying experience to be with the Panessas since not many of them held much affection for her.

The feeling is mutual, but not exclusively. There were a few she would always be grateful to because of what they taught about herself.

The gated estate can finally be seen through the dashboard window. She rolls down the driver's side window as she nears the gate.

"No visitors tonight. Private family gathering."

"Tell Tomaso... his niece Helena Rosa is here."

The watchman is quick to dial the Don's private line. The gate unlocks before the receiver is even put back in the cradle.

"The Don's expecting you in the foyer."

She drives on through. It felt like an ominous homecoming because this is the estate where her mother lived after the Panessas made their fortune. It was the same estate where her mother married her father under the watchful eyes of her family.

Two more men meet her car near the steps to the mansion. It seems her uncle could still pick 'them' - meaning he had a unique talent for finding attractive yet loyal men to serve the family. One holds an umbrella by the driver's side after she parks her Lamborghini a few feet from the first step. The other opens the door and offers his hand to help her out.

"Such service. The Don's fortunate to have such men."

Both grin at her yet notice the ring on her left ring finger. Her promise ring from Vic - she knows they have seen it yet both maintain the custom smile.

The one that helped her from the car now drives it to the garage. The other leads her inside while keeping the umbrella over her.

As she nears her uncle, he nods to the man who helped her in and so he turns to leave as she embraces him. He kisses both her cheeks.

Helena looks over his shoulder to scan the parlor. It appears the gathering is not limited to the Panessas. She knows them all by reputation, but not as Helena. It is the Huntress that knows them.

The huntress and the hunted share at least one thing in common - family.

* * *

A/N 1: References are made to my story Tangents. There are also references to _**Huntress: Cry For Blood**_ such as the encounter between Helena and Batman. The dialogue is a near lift from the actual collected paperback version of _**Cry For Blood**_. There is also the history given for the Five Families from the same paperback.

A/N 2: All the same, Question is still in the story - just not present in this chapter. There hasn't been a relationship between Huntress and Question in the comics yet they came extremely close to one in _**Cry For Blood**_. However in this story, its based on DCAU continuity & my story Tangents.


	2. Butterflies

Bloodline alliances are nothing new for the Five Families except rare is there something to unite the Five at least before someone starts moving against them. Claudio's murder at first made all Five suspicious of each other until through various legal back-doors do they learn that the GCPD suspects an outsider is responsible for the killing. They agree it is not Batman as Batman won't even kill someone like Joker.

Joker over the years repeatedly shows he is quite willing to kill anyone except Batman. Nobody is quite sure why both are so opposed to killing each other. Many at Joker's first appearance thought he would be the one to rid them of the Bat as no one by that time was able to snuff the vigilante. More than one aspiring criminal organization was torn down by Batman yet so far the Five have kept their standing. Still nobody is about to fall asleep at the wheel.

Joker among other 'super-criminals' proven by past exchanges continues to be bad news for everyone. He rarely distinguishes between the GCPD and the Five. He is also responsible for the deaths of many mobsters in his time and no matter how much destruction he wrought at any one time, nobody has taken him down. At least not to the knowledge of the Five and even when at the scene of massive explosions, the Clown Prince of Crime survives them.

Two-Face likewise persists as one can never be sure whether his operations will toss for or against whomever…whatever… is in his sights. As Dent, he nearly brought the Five Families down except Rupert Thorne acting alone chose to confront Dent with files that would expose the D.A.'s psychological condition. Dent had already been closing in on Thorne except the latter even then was not without duplicitous assets to utilize against the D.A.

Dent's survival was not expected yet what survived the explosion was not quite Dent anymore or even Big Bad Harv either. The two were not quite one yet as already noted one could not be sure how his operations would impact the rest of criminal or mafia organizations that were once only Dent's opponents in a court room. Now instead of a literal judge, jury, and executioner – there is only the coin, which Two-Face calls the great equalizer

The modus operandi attributed to Claudio Panessa's killer is without precedent. The Five like the GCPD are certain there is no 'super-criminal' involvement therefore his killer is someone other than the Arkhamites. Circumstantial evidence implicates Huntress and by lack of affiliations she is quickly becoming the prime suspect. It is not entirely the funeral and the wake for Claudio Panessa that draws the Five Families together tonight at the Panessa Estate.

Some worry if they are next. Some wonder why now. Some wait for 'something'. Some plan ahead. All the same, it is no coincidence that they are all here tonight. One would be a fool to believe or think otherwise. Helena Bertinelli is neither foolish nor gullible as these men are just as dangerous as the 'super-criminals' that frequent Arkham Asylum. They also stand to gain by removing the Huntress from the 'radar' because she is not after having them get alone. They believe she desires to rid Gotham of them and they have no intention of going silently into the night like Claudio Panessa.

Helena as the Huntress does use weapons. The weapons are for defense, intimidation, and distraction foremost. Never can she let herself be an instrument of death. Still the possibilities for how the Five might try to deal with the Huntress invite temptation to the Huntress who is becoming the prey.

* * *

Helena at one time or another has seen each of these men. The same goes for the Huntress.

Santo and Mario Cassamento flood Gotham year round with drugs especially heroin. The drug trade like all extortion and rackets in Gotham is a partnership. The fronts that funnel the drugs are shared between Cassamento and Panessa. One part supply, one part demand, and it did not make them any better than Scarecrow in Helena's mind. She already had her own experiences with his fear gas. She does her best to suppress the nightmarish memories as it hit her immediately after seeing Vic take bullets meant for her.

Santo looks rather sad in the eyes yet the same could not be said for the lustful gaze of his son Mario.

Helena wouldn't sink to striking him because it would only encourage undoubtedly so she would continue to pretend to not notice and besides she already has all the man she needs. The thought of _**him**_ made her burn for his touch among other things. Her ability to read people better than she used had come from _**him**__._ She found herself learning from him in the same way she used to from other men who like him were the few she trusted because they didn't judge her by her family or her past.

Angelo and Michael Beretti, both lawyers yet it is the older of the two that carries weight in the Galante Family as their _Consiglieri_. Michael might one day succeed Angelo. Angelo was a close and trusted friend to Franco Bertinelli. The Berettis were usually followers, never really up to being leaders, they were good at what they did and do, but when the Bertinellis went down, they were quick to reinforce their place with the Galantes and offer their services to the Panessas.

The Inzerillos, Enrico and Jack, another father-son duo, their countenance is plain enough, the room is getting too crowded for them, but the air will clear in time. They look ready for war if necessary. The same could be said for the equally ambitious Vincenzo Galante, son and heir apparent to the current _Capo Di Tutti Capi_.

Vincenzo is famous for his temper when it comes to women. He is the polar opposite of his father Pasquale Galante, Junior. Pasquale holds a rather unique role in the life of Helena Rosa Bertinelli because he was chosen by her parents to be her _padrino_.

It is the robust Pasquale who surprises her while she is trying to size up who is trying to frame Huntress. He raises his hand in the gesture typical of his position before he does something truly unexpected. The old man kisses her on the cheek. His cheek kiss heightens her longing for her _inamorato_.

"Godfather," Helena murmurs.

Vic would relearn how she misses him and the price of making an Italian lady wait for her lover.

"You look like an angel, Helena Rosa," Pasquale assures.

Pasquale leads her to the open doorway of the next room.

"Your aunt would love to see you, Helena," Pasquale adds.

As Helena exits, the men resume talking in Italian. They were and are talking about the Huntress.

* * *

War to the oldest members of all the Families is something that remains fresh in their minds from their past. Peace to the youngest is something they can't value because they haven't lived what it took to pay for the peace that made their lives as bloodless as possible. As for Helena, she is old enough to find that mob wars are not truly about preservation because deep down self-preservation can and does override even the slightest altruistic tendencies in the best of people. The only exceptions to that were her cousin, Salvatore Asaro, and one of her Family's bodyguards, Tony Angelo.

The latter had been a childhood friend of hers. The sad side to Tony had come from his sister's disappearance. Roseanne as Tony believes to this day was abducted, molested, and slain by an unknown man. Rosie's death shapes Tony's life just as her parents' murder continues to shape her.

Tony literally lives _omerta_ because he has been after his sister's killer since before Helena's parents were killed by Steven Mandragora when she was eight. Helena could only wonder if Tony found what he was looking for even though she could remember what it felt like to want someone dead, she felt because of Vic, she could finally move on with her life.

If not for Vic, she could still be that way or worse she could be dead considering Mandragora's last conversation with her more than a year ago. The conversation happened just prior to his murder. As for who got to Mandragora that remains another mystery yet at times it feels better left in the dark even when recent events unsettle all the realities she had lived with since growing closer to Vic and holding tightly to her love for him.

He brought out the better in her. He made her feel more like a woman than she ever felt before. Anatomy isn't the whole story to being what you are as somewhere inside….something biological…went off when he was captured by Cadmus after 'failing' to kill Luthor. His salvation couldn't have happen without Superman's help. She didn't care for the silent war between Cadmus and the Justice League yet Question's sense of loyalty to the costumes remains a matter of family. It didn't mean she didn't care about what happen to the League, she just put saving Question above the League.

Question's capture made her journey personal and to get him back meant going to depths of Cadmus. He had gone all out to help her. She could do no less except something felt different, somewhere between being his partner and his savior, she becomes his lover. The realization that she is in love with him comes the instant she begins suiting up so she could go after him. It did and does make all the difference when she embraces being the Huntress. It made and makes her passionate in ways that left others with impressions that she is not who she was yet who she is becoming is more than she was before.

As for what this metamorphosis is still changing her into is yet to be seen. Whether one believes this is for better or worse is another question in mind with the conviction that Huntress is now a murderess.

All her prior assumptions have gone out the window. Helena wonders how long she can keep 'playing' by the rules when someone is intentionally using her tools of trade to frame Huntress. Claudio's death is meant to be a message to her alone. The message is that the Huntress is now the prey. Whoever follows Claudio into the earth will only serve to strengthen the case against the Huntress.

* * *

"Graziella, our _figlioccia _Helena Rosa is here," Tomaso announces.

Helena walks towards the women after Tomaso announces her presence to the pair. Her steps are nearly silent and soon she sits very near her _madrina_.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Grace," Helena murmurs.

"It's good to see you…" replies Grace.

Grace is wearing a black shawl and sheer black veil. It is tradition for funerals at least among Sicilians. The older woman looks to her daughter as if imploring with her eyes. It is something one would guess that Grace doesn't believe needs telling, least of all to her own flesh and blood.

"Monica, greet your cousin," Grace insists.

Monica with a sneer glares at Helena.

"I see no cousin here, Momma."

Grace smacks Monica hard enough to leave a mark.

"You do not speak that way to your cousin!" Grace snaps.

Monica rubs her swelling cheek.

"And never to a Bertinelli!" Grace adds acidly.

A tear rolls down Monica's face from the eye opposite to the cheek that her mother just hit.

"The Bertinellis died years ago."

Helena hadn't immediately seen that she had put one of her hands over her mouth. Her painted fingertips are not far from her no longer damp lips. It feels like its time for her to leave because the men outside won't shut up about Huntress and the women inside are at a divide about her presence.

"I should go… I am truly sorry for your loss."

Helena is quicker to leave than she was to enter this place.

* * *

Tomaso and Graziella were no substitutes for her own parents yet she loved them for what they did for her in the past. She did feel sorry for them because of Claudio. She couldn't really blame Monica for how she felt about her and the Bertinellis yet so many of the old hatreds were like an inheritance. One could either accept them or bury them.

The same pair that let her into the mansion brings her car around and the rain is heavier than it was earlier. It almost seems too risky to drive back to her apartment in this rain yet she said she would go so she drives off into the night.

_One of them is framing Huntress. Whoever it is has done their homework on my tools of trade. The crossbow bolt Batman showed me looks exactly like mine._

As she drives, she slips off her low cut heels. The leather pedal covers feel nice against the fabric of her black sheer nylons. Still her legs and feet prefer someone instead of something to rub against.

_One or all of those old men knew Mandragora was ripe to eliminate the Bertinellis. Whoever knew had something to gain from allowing my family to die or by picking up what was left intact in the wake of the murders._

The noise of the wipers is like rhythmic tapping on the windshield and sounds in tandem with the raindrops pattering on the glass. The only external illuminations are the headlights and internally the displays glow in the darkened Lamborghini's interior.

_Mandragora said he knew where I was that night. He could have killed me with or after my parents yet he left me alive. I could chalk it up to survivor's guilt. I always used to even if I didn't acknowledge it to myself._

Weather and mood are more signs to her hunger. More so than before she is aroused to the point that only he could fill her appetite and as she continues around the curve in the road she can see someone standing there in a dark trench coat.

_There are facts that don't change and there are interpretations which always are in motion. My interpretations surrounding what happen that night are no longer my own. I don't know what to believe in besides being the Huntress and my love for a certain conspiracy theorist._

She slams the break pedal with her foot and locks the emergency break with her hand. Helena slips her heels back on and steps out of the car.

"Driving in this weather?"

"I must be crazy."

"It's been said."

"Believe nothing."

"See everything."

Helena pulls Question against her damp body. Another rain drenching interlude is at hand.

"Maybe we should…"

"Less talking…"

"More…"

She roughly kisses him where she knows his lips to be as it is her way of remembering their first kiss. It is also how she looks back on the way that he spoke of his feelings for her. She found the confession awkward and sweet. His awkwardness remains as such qualities are a part of him just as she is known for her passion.

He eventually forces her into the car and drives her back to her apartment. All along the way, she leaves her marks on him so no denying it she is in mood. As for him there is no telling for the moment. She recalls well his ability to project even when he could be feeling the opposite of how he appears even to her. Still it is not as she is throwing herself at him, but after spending so much time thinking about him and then having him appear on the road in front of her on the way home in the rain. As he had done before, he found another way of getting to her without knowing he did or maybe it was her finding arousal from something that outwardly seems so like them.

"So I take it all the major players were at your uncle's mansion," Question states.

"At first that took me by surprise except it makes sense in hindsight," says Helena.

"Little surprises you… you thought at most there would be the Panessas and the Galantes."

"Yes… the Inzerillos and the Cassamentos have decades -old feud between… what kept them from shooting each other is a perceived common enemy."

"They are afraid that the Huntress will be hunting them next."

"I was nowhere near Claudio that night."

"I know… I was watching your apartment after hearing rumors of an assassin targeting mobsters among other things. Someone wants you out of the way… you have become a pawn and a threat to something going on in the criminal underworld."

"Batman believes I killed Claudio."

"The herring bloodies you."

She believes that he believes her innocence. He believes that once again she is hungry to prove many things to many people including him in particular. She's fought the temptation to kill many times in the past. Her almost shame lies not with the act itself, but with coming so near to acting on the impulse.

* * *

It is not that everyone can kill, it is whether or not one does actually kill anyone, and Helena as Huntress had come close more than once. She felt unsure if there was a difference between wanting to kill Mandragora for killing her parents and nearly killing a stranger for harming Vic.

Dr. Moon and KGBeast both did things to him as Question and Vic that took her to the moment she faced once before then. The circumstances brought her back to the moment where she took aim at Mandragora after he taken down Arrow, Canary, and Question. Her own words play back at her.

"_**I have arrows too… the kind that cut right through you…"**_

It is the sight and sound of little Edgar Mandragora that stays her hand at least from taking Steven's life. Somewhere deep down she realizes then and now she had been looking for something else. She had been looking for a way to deny the temptation to kill someone simply because she could kill someone.

Even when facing Vic's Cadmus torturer Doctor Moon, she left him alive despite being furious about what the man did to Vic's mind. Likewise the sight of the broken and bloodied bodies of her friends… of _**him**_… trumps having the opportunity to kill KGBeast.

KGBeast died from a poison capsule that was implanted in one of his teeth. As for whether Anatoly knew someone had put it there is now a moot point. She doesn't exactly want to know or care about Moon. Moon had it coming, as for who would deliver it, she could say it wouldn't be her for she wants to be better than those who would take everything that matters to her now. Helena aspires to always be the woman that Vic loves.

* * *

Once they finally reach her apartment, he removes his faceless mask to reveal his red hair and his blue-green eyes. Helena felt her stomach tighten. It is a sensation she could liken to butterflies. She tugs on his collar and starts to loosen his tie quickly. He reaches around for the zipper at the back of her dress so that she can easily slip out of her dress. She unbuckles his belt and tosses it aside. Soon his pants follow it. She giggles at the fact that he still wears orange socks and that socks as usual match his button down dress shirt.

She regains her bearings and moves to drag him to the bedroom. By the time they make it to the bed, his shirt is off and several buttons are no longer on the shirt. He gently and slowly removes her nylons. She revels in his touch upon her legs and after that she wraps her bare legs around his waist. The next sounds from her are ones she missed making since she could only naturally make them when in bed with him.

Whatever clothing either still has on is now on the floor and their bodies go between the layers of sheets for as long as she can push herself to stay in bed with him. He likewise does his best to keep up with her as he truly learns what happens when a woman is in the mood. Marks both from her lips and nails are a testament to the pleasure she gets from coming together physically with Vic. The scent of cologne, perfume, and other smells linger on the sheet fabrics. Now does it become so clear how much they both had been missing each other and how much they enjoy being like this.

* * *

Hours later, Vic is asleep while Helena is in the shower. She felt quite sore from spending so many hours ravaging Vic and from him working her over. After showering a little longer, she cozies up to Vic's sleeping form with the feeling with him on her side, the Huntress would have justice.

Of course things would get worse before they get better. Both were about to learn how much worse.

* * *

Elsewhere another woman is also indulging herself, not with her body, but with her mind as she is writing for the front page of the Gotham Times. It is an article on the rumblings of Gotham's Mafia Underworld and a recent murder that she is attributing to the Huntress by way of protected sources. It would be some time before the writing is done. Her words would be many things to many people except for her. They would be the last words she would ever 'say' because after hitting the send button on the e-mail with the article as an attachment, she would feel something plunge into her body as she turns to move away from her computer.

* * *

A/N 1: Again much of the cast is a carryover from _**Cry For Blood**_. Some however are not, such as Tony Angelo and his sister Roseanne.

A/N 2: Also much of the chapter covers the particulars regarding the Five Families. Much of the rest covers the 'reunion' of Helena and Vic.

A/N 3: Cliffhanger murder.


	3. Crimes

The word is already spreading by the time Helena is parking her Lamborghini at the Gotham Heights High School parking lot and even the students are talking about today's Gotham Times front page. It is laid down that a local vigilante is now a killer. Helena does her best to suppress the outrage building in her until picking up a copy of the Times left lying on her teacher's desk. Her class room however is vacant besides her so she had to wonder who left this 'gift' for her.

The Huntress' monochromatic photograph shown beside the article is not a recent one. It actually belongs to a time when she still had a much stronger costume resemblance to the Batclan. The predecessor was more a meshing of spirituality and vigilantism yet its successor is meant by design to distance her from those who work with Batman. She knows now his sponsorship of her into the Justice League had many layers to it.

Foremost among them was a way to keep an eye on her when his time was preoccupied with League missions He did not trust others to keep watch on her and like Question he had known her hunt for Mandragora made minding her more of a challenge. Batman however let Question confront her over her intentions towards Steven Mandragora. Helena can't and won't imagine being in that situation with Batman breathing down her neck. It is not the similarities between Batman and Question. Rather the differences between them that continue to matter because that is the foundation of their partnership.

As for the journalist who wrote the article Huntress: Murderess, Huntress would have to have a woman to woman 'chat' with the one condemns her in print. It shouldn't be hard to track down one journalist. A phone call or internet search would yield an address. Still is not finding the woman that is grating. It is the waiting due her work here at Gotham Heights High. Waiting goes against her instincts in the moment yet it would be more convincing to continue as usual.

Question might actually find the necessary information she seeks at the present time. He always did his homework. He always went into situations with information that usually made the unexpected happen and occasionally that could be a gift in disguise. What made her kiss him that first time had more to do with him helping her despite everything he did know beforehand plus the way he told he likes her. The deep unexpected turn from there was how quickly she fell in love with him while having to wait until after breaking him out of Cadmus to see his face, to really see it in spite of the bruises from the interrogation and torture.

It was the first time she could recall wanting to hurt someone because of what they did to someone she loves as she had not found herself loving someone still alive in a long, long time so her reaction felt natural. It felt right to punch him across the room and aim her crossbow at him until Superman indirectly reminds her about why she had come to the depths of Cadmus in the first place. She would spare Moon because her only impulse is to get Question, get Vic, as far away as possible.

It would be best to throw her mind into teaching because six hours would not pass quickly. She opens the door and steps inside to find waiting students eager to learn, which were her favorite kind. These were kind of students that made teaching worthwhile. It made for one of few things that made worth getting out of bed before. Mentally she pushes back flashes of what she and Vic did last night. When they were together like that all she could say in words at least to herself is rarely did she ever feel so alive as when their bodies made contact of any kind.

Now two things hook into her restlessness. She wouldn't wonder how Vic manages to juggle so much inside his own mind. It always looks decidedly natural for him. Trait wise it is enviable and unenviable.

* * *

Elsewhere, Helena is not the only one reading the expose condemning the Huntress for murder. Question begins to realize the gravity of that which threatens Huntress and by extension Helena Bertinelli. In some ways, it would seem more dangerous for a costume to be accused of murder because it means the true face will no longer be able to hide behind the mask. For Question has the experience of fearing his own unmasking at the hands of Cadmus except they had other things in mind for him then. Even when under the mercies of Doctor Moon, Question always thought if anyone would come for him, it would be Huntress, and he thought she should not risk her life for his, but it would in retrospect prove pointless to argue with the woman who loves him.

_**"You shouldn't have come after me!"**__ berates Question._

_**"You shouldn't have snuck off without me!"**__ hisses Huntress._

Much of his Cadmus captivity remains a blur to him. He relives slivers of it in what passes for sleep. He did rail against her rescue attempt with words yet her tongue proves to be as sharp as her martial arts expertise so she got him away from Cadmus. Hers was not the first or the last inspiring action taken by a costume at the height of the war between Cadmus and the League. It is her coming after him that he starts to believe her better than him because she went to greater lengths to help him or at least what she did for him seem to eclipse what he had done for her.

By circumstances it is an uneven comparison to place Cadmus and Mandragora side-by-side. Cadmus being a highly secretive agency, which was sanctioned to develop whatever means necessary to counteract the costumes. It was never the roster expansion or the Thanagarian Occupation, but at first glance one might think so. To a certain degree the two did impact their activities, but deep down it was first Superman going rogue whilst brainwashed by Darkseid that brought them together. The Justice Lords' incursion only serves to worsen their paranoia.

For the logic follows, if it did happen there, it can happen here. However foreknowledge of such possibilities only invites probabilities of repeat variations. So Question had made a decision to act alone only for it to backfire painfully and be left to watch as events went forward unabated. Flash's apparent death following his one sided take down of Brainthor implies that vibrating all of Brainiac's hardware off Luthor's skin had taken too much from the speedster. He literally appeared to have run towards his death knowingly. The act is unequally selfless and selfish yet underneath it all he did it without regrets.

Superman stood eyes glowing ready to repeat what Lorder Superman did to President Luthor except he did not and mere moments later Flash is brought back from the Speed Force by the other six there. Flash did what he thought right, was willing to die for that, but the others were not ready to let him die even if what was done to save their lives in his mind. The other six like Huntress refuse to let someone important to their world die on their watch. They all thought back to the Justice Lords and how without even just one of their numbers did they 'change'.

So why should one death matter against billions?

Question could never answer that for certainly. He could say it is not about numbers, it is about people. He could think the costumes are closer than they admit to themselves and to others. Assuredly they tend to try to lead lives outside the costumes. Each encounters different outcomes and likewise faces criminals aplenty who are deep down are not that different from the vigilantes who fight them.

Some fall into amorous relationships with their purported enemies such as Batman and Catwoman. The tension there is no matter how close they become, she's still a thief and he until the end a vigilante. Still what is there is undeniable for both yet both won't change in order to fit 'better' into the other's life. It would likely snuff out their chemistry eventually. So they continue their bat and cat 'games'.

Some have pasts with their rogues such as Shayera had with Solomon Grundy prior to the Icthultu mission, which was a success aside from the fact that Grundy died from his wounds. The only further emotional twister from that was when a trio of foolish college students resurrected him so the silent resurrected dead man killed them for their troubles. She in turn finds that only her mace can give him the peace that the resurrection stole from him just as dying to kill the soul stealing Icthultu did before.

Some continuously listen and talk to them no matter how many times the vigilante foils the criminals' plans, which could likely baffle them for starters such as Flash with his Central City 'regulars' who are frequent goers to a bar on 4th Street in Central. He even casually shook off the fact that they tried to kill him before and after the museum to Flash is opened to the public. Along the way he obviously witnesses Linda Park's attraction to him yet Flash isn't quite a one woman man.

Others have criminals who try to outclass the vigilante in anyway possible, which amounts to anything you can do, I can do better. Such things are possible, but consistently probable as few things can stop either Superman or J'onn aside from established weaknesses to Kryptonite and fire. Both have relationships with an Earth born woman. Both have enemies who have sought to dominate them. They however refuse to give up so it is this resilience of a kind that links them to their enemies who refuse to stop trying to outmatch or outwit them in some way.

Further still there are those vigilantes who act as if they are agents of something far more powerful than they are such as Green Lantern on behalf of the Guardians of Oa and Princess Diana of Themyscira as Champion of the Amazons who serves the Olympian Gods. Criminals that they have fought tend to people that they have a past with, who 'knew' parents, or have taken action someone that the vigilante deeply cares about. Whatever the link, there is always connections despite claims apophenia. He thinks back to when Huntress made her move to 'recruit' him in her hunt for Mandragora.

She made many passive insinuations that night. Most she had withdrawn on the same night.

"_**I have a question for you then. Do you know what apophenia is?"**__ Huntress asks._

"_**Apophenia: noun. Tendency to see connections where none exist," **__Question replies._

He had given an answer with a follow up question of his own. He presses her about the true nature of her presence here. He knows time is not on their side. The situation involving her quarry that night took rather drastic turns in a very short span so he was all for expediting movements quickly. Events took on a momentum of their own once Mandragora fled Federal custody. His lackeys took down Faraday's men while Mandragora himself hit Faraday over the head. Question and Huntress were busy brawling with Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Mandragora or his men inadvertently drop a shipping schedule. A specific freighter would be making port that night and a certain individual would be arriving on it. Someone that Mandragora had his associates finally manage to recover after teaching the boy's abductors the error of their ways. It is perhaps witnessing the reunion of Steven and Edgar that finally made Huntress turn away from killing her parents' killer, but Huntress that night is not a killer.

Question is not without doubts at this moment. It felt like weakness to suspect the woman he loves could be a killer so emotions are affecting him. How could they not affect him?

It does not take long to find out where the journalist who wrote Huntress: Murderess resides within Gotham City and where her desk is within the building that houses the Gotham Times 'home' office. It would be a place to search though not this early in the day. Huntress would likely expect him to have details once Helena Bertinelli's work day is over so he would wait for her. Question decides she deserves that much, to be kept in the loop, because the only time he left her out of it is the time the first time she had to come after him to save him.

All the evidence thus far is too convenient for him and too convincing for others including Batman.

He dials the Gotham Times' Main Desk. He asks to be forwarded to Karen Frazier. Karen isn't the one to answer the phone.

"Karen is that you?"

"No I was trying to reach her."

"She hasn't been in yet."

"Odd for her I take it."

"Right… I mean this Huntress story is big news."

"So nobody has heard from her since the article submission?"

"Not a word… which worries many including me."

"Likewise… "

"Who are you?"

"I can't talk any longer. Busy now."

He hangs up and ditches the cell phone. It is one of his many untraceable cell phones so losing one is not a substantial setback, but the absence of Karen Frazier is one. Nobody at the Times had heard from her since last night, which means she's been incommunicado for several hours already.

Next he dials Karen Frazier's land line except it doesn't ring, not even once, which meant someone possibly unplugged her phones so the only remaining options were to search her desk at the Times and to drop by her apartment at some point as well. The only way to effectively search both locations is if he went to one and Huntress to the other. Something told him she would insist that she search Frazier's apartment and he check out her space at the Gotham Times. How accurate that assessment is would depend on just how well he reads his _inamorata_.

Long ago did he grasp why she especially as the Huntress did not relish the prospects of waiting act yet in her current public life she could not afford to be amiss. He is not bound by such elements. The hours creep by eventually and he watches climb into her car. Either she would call him or recognize his car in the distance once she begins driving away from the school. The former takes the lead when she dials him using one of the phones he lent her for emergency calls.

"I'm betting you are nearby. Had this feeling you would shadow me after last night. So I bet you have seen the headlines already?"  
"Yes to all… the journalist never made it to work today."

"Oddly suspicious… so where do we search?"

"Her desk at the Times and her apartment are two locations."

"You take the desk. I take the apartment."

"Thought you say that… sure it wise is for you to go alone?"

"Leave it to you to remind me of that blurry moment."

"Felt it should be equal."

"I know… I just think we'll cover more ground."

"As you wish, so let's hop to it then."

* * *

A 1969 Pontiac GTO leaves a street spot and heads towards the Gotham Times 'home' office building. A more recent Lamborghini Gallardo takes a more indirect route to towards a hidden garage several blocks away. Question is already set for the search. Helena Bertinelli however needs a stop over to change into something more suitable to the task at hand. Question could have made the insistence that they stick together throughout this search, but somehow letting her have it her way might resolve this faster. Batman looms over both of them when it comes to tactics. The Caped Crusader prefers to work alone yet when working with others he prefers to keep them close enough to 'manipulate' them.

Dick Grayson, on his last night as Robin, made that accusation to Batgirl yet mostly the statement is meant for Batman who Bruce Wayne fails to see has become in his mind as cold or calculating as his Rogues. The final nail in this evaluation was when Batman interrogated a suspect in front of the suspect's family. Robin left the scene in disgust most likely and in the process probably surprised Batman at the sudden departure. Perhaps Dick leaving as Robin did as much harm as did it help. Harm because it tore down his connections to Bruce and Barbara. Help because maybe Batman wouldn't be such a manipulator, but some habits just can't be broken.

Habits are humans. They in a way define us. Signs of what can be 'good' and 'bad'. Labels define when little else will do, but doesn't make all true. Merely shows what can be said or done even when so little has been spoken or taken. Puts everything and everyone into roles they play even when they don't believe it or it doesn't believe in them. So can such actions make all liars?

Not even Question would seek to answer that because not all is a lie yet it is never by any means 'easy' to find trueness amidst all which he does with his time. The only lasting true to his days belongs to a woman whose alter-ego is a prime suspect in one murder and possibly soon a suspect for two if his prediction about the fate of Karen Frazier is proven correct.

The man he spoke to on the phone was right about many things including Frazier's absence from the home office, which is decreasing the likelihood of finding her alive. Her body would be found, but the question is by whom and under what circumstances.

Question stealthily makes his way to Frazier's desk by way of the most indirect route to her floor. People had seen this red headed fellow in here before. He's no stranger to them because he's only seen at the oddest hours of the days. Odd to whoever is watching the red head's passage through the sea of desks. If he felt paranoid enough, someone working for whoever is trying to frame Huntress is also here and would probably be looking for someone who is looking for Frazier. Someone is not known for associating with the journalist.

He only occasionally taps into these false identities, but then Batman frequently makes use of such pretends so that he can slide into other roles that can access what is off-limits to Batman and Bruce.

Frazier's office and desk reveal little as to who put her on course what would be her probable demise. Frazier didn't suspect herself to be a means to an end, a link in the chain, but few ever caught up in the conspiracy ever want to believe they are a pawn in someone else's game. There was nothing more to find here so now is the moment to get back to Huntress before she walks into what is likely a trap set specifically for her.

Question vividly recollects the one left for him during the game between him and Maxwell Lord. Lord's plans left many in the dark until literally the ultimate moment. All the pieces fell together after finding David Clinton's journal, the one that shouldn't exist, but then time travel doesn't follow the 'rules'. Science fiction is more fiction than science, no surprise there, but there is a science to time travel, alternate realities, divergent time lines, and reciprocal paradoxes.

The science is as fluid as time itself.

Fiction is not supposed to make sense, but then again neither does reality.

Once back in his car, he puts his mask back on with the reassurance that it is too dark now for anyone to see him doing this, at least not seeing it too well. After that he starts up the Pontiac and starts to make his way across Gotham City to Karen Frazier's high rise apartment. He could only drive on while trying not to think about whether it is too late or it already is too late. The city grows louder around him as it should with the rush of people going home from work, but Karen Frazier is not among them.

* * *

High above Gotham City street level, Huntress is already inside Karen Frazier's apartment. The lights are on, no one appears to be home, and that is already off putting for Huntress as she scans the room. If anything happen here, there are no signs of struggle, but given what she could guess about how Claudio died, it made sense that the real killer would do whatever it takes to strengthen the framing of Huntress. Huntress considers that her being here could actually work against her even though Frazier is in her mind the only living connection between her and whoever is after her.

"I stand wrong. Just another dead end," Huntress sighs.

Karen Frazier's corpse rests face up on the sofa in the sitting room. Protruding from the reporter's chest is an arrow bolt just like the ones in Huntress' crossbow, just like the one found in Claudio Panessa's body after it was pulled from the river, and with her gloved hand she touches the body. It is still warm yet given the fact that the heat is on that would throw off an approximation time of death. She has already been here too long so Huntress heads back for the balcony. There is knocking from outside the door leading to the apartment someone is looking for Karen.

"Miss Frazier? Are you alright in there?"

Karen wouldn't be answering obviously.

"We got word of a prowler so we were checking on everyone."

Someone is unlocking the door from the outside. It is probably the apartments' manager. Huntress is already gone by the time the manager and the cops get inside though they do find Karen's body quickly. One of the cops calls it in, but the dispatcher isn't the only to pick up on the call-in message.

Huntress lands on a roof opposite to the high rise apartments.

"Huntress," Batman intones.

Huntress felt caught off guard and raises her crossbow for the second time in a week.

"I didn't…" Huntress rebukes.

"Save it…" Batman counters.

Batman steps closer to Huntress and she already senses where this is going. Nobody except for a certain him believes her and as for the others they should get out of her way, but they won't, she knows that.

"_You're_ coming with _me_," implores Batman.

"Like hell I am!" hisses Huntress.

"Your situation has changed," states Batman flatly.

There is no way to talk her way out of what he has in mind.

"Innocent or not, I won't let you roam this city, fighting the police," continues Batman.

The ultimatum is at hand such is clear from his jaw line.

"You come now, and you keep your secret identity."

Nightwing comes up behind her. They were boxing her in.

"For how long?" quips Huntress.

His city, his rules, but again it is all about belief in the moment. They say we want to help you, but do they really mean it?

She doesn't feel so.

"Until you're tired of keeping me in one of your caves?" retorts Huntress.

She starts to move away from them. They follow her, adapting movements, and they mean to take her down in her mind. She can't let that happen so have to find a way to escape the trap.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Huntress snaps.

"You misunderstand… this isn't a choice," reminds Batman.

She knows she's no match for Batman or even a match for Nightwing. She needs only off-balance them long enough to flee the rooftop and then find somewhere to hide without having them find her out.

Huntress moves towards the ledge and in a flurry of movement three batarangs are flying at her. It is only by the skin of her teeth that she evades the painful slash that tends to follow having a batarang 'shave'. The only snafu is she lands on the arm that is holding her crossbow, which causes her index finger to hit the trigger just as Nightwing closes in on her. He narrowly avoids the arrow bolt, but the same cannot be said for Batman as it rips into his upper chest.

"Stop!" shouts Nightwing.

"No," groans Huntress.

Both look to see Batman working on removing the bolt from his chest.

"Batman?" whispers Nightwing.

"Just stop her," responds Batman.

Nightwing's face contorts to one of anger and resolve as he starts to pummel away her. Each blow leaves a mark or opens her face to bleeding. Both hurt beyond measure. He didn't hold back and she didn't hit back. It would only make things worse than they already were so she inevitably back flips away from him even as her blood splatters on the blackness of the rooftop. It is hard to block the pain as she dives off the ledge or rather it might sound more accurate to say she didn't quite count on such a steep drop to the river.

Her body hitting the river hurt as much and maybe more than Nightwing's punches. It is the same river that mafia often left bodies in after they were done with them. It is also the same river that the GCPD found Claudio's corpse floating in less than two days ago. The irony, if there is one, is not lost on Huntress. There is at least only one man left to her that still believes, but he is not here right now. She made him search Frazier's desk despite how pointless that seem to her as well, but then such is a bent on omerta. She thought she had to do this thing alone even though she let him help her indirectly yet now she remembers how furious she felt about being left out of the loop on his solo 'missions'.

Those were also the times where she could have lost him. Had she been a hypocrite to do the same to him now? Had she done it before?

She felt guilty about what she had done to him just as he probably felt guilty for what he did to her.

* * *

Someone pulls her from the river and wraps a long dark blue trench coat around her damp costume. He carries her to his car without a word. She didn't mind the silence. They could talk later hopefully. She didn't know where he was driving them except he was going outside of Gotham City. Between the early stages of hypothermia and blood loss, she could barely stay awake for long during the ride. He does something and soon she falls asleep on the passenger side still wearing his coat. He had cranked up the heat in the car enough to induce sleep at least for her sake.

He could deal with Batman and the others, but helping Huntress would as the first time prove to be a challenge though he didn't mind challenges. It kept life interesting and for the woman he loves he could do no less for he must believe in her. He accepts the possibilities that she is innocent, that someone is framing her, and that few if any believe in her. As much as she wants to solve these crimes alone, Huntress can't afford to hunt by herself. Question would again have to put himself in the line of fire with allies and enemies for his life's deepest meaning rests with the sleeping Italian beauty.

* * *

A/N 1: Huntress and Question separately investigate Karen Frazier following her story implicating Huntress for murder only to find that this goes deeper than they thought it did.

A/N 2: Her encounter with Batman and Nightwing is a lift from the end of second part of Cry For Blood. However I made some subtle changes especially with her watery retrieval by Question. Instead of him giving her the boot, he carries her off without asking and she doesn't resist.

A/N 3: Her resisting Batman and Nightwing to me is that her railing against their disbelief and lack of accepting her following past landmark events in the comics. In my story, it belongs more to what she did during the League-Cadmus showdown and during the Illuminati Arc.

A/N 4: Illuminati Arc refers to my story Tangents, which was half JLU's Cadmus Arc and half Question going up against Maxwell Lord.

A/N 5: To those eager for an update I hope this delivers...


	4. Punishments

_While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. – __**Leonardo da Vinci

* * *

**_

Richard Dragon found that his students always come back even when this one comes because of another. Question did not make a habit of bringing someone in need to his doorstep, but then as much he could expect irregular visits from the Zen investigator, he did not expect her being with him this time. Question seems to gravitate to women with troubling pasts. However this one is the first he could say that his former student actually feels intensely about this one. At the same time, there is something distinctly familiar about her, but then you don't forget someone like Helena Bertinelli ever.

Richard doesn't watch the news, read the papers, or even listen to the radio. He instead learns all he needs to learn by watching people of all ages, walks of life, and from that among other things does he discern who he is up against. He remembers meeting her in passing years before and all he could sense from her then was so much anger. Anger for the murder of her parents, anger at being unable to save them, anger towards their killer, but she is different now. A different kind of anger stalks her yet she looks to be drawing hope from her partner, from Question.

Many want to arrest or kill her. It is only Question that's looking to her salvation whether he knows it or not. The many already made their judgment yet Question believes Huntress is innocent. Evidence relies upon all things past in her case or by circumstances that make her look like a murderess. The whole situation is making everyone against her look paranoid and troubling Question that he might be the only sane one on the case. As for her, for Helena, she is desperate to end this nightmare that is all too real for her.

She still sleeps fitfully despite all the blankets and covers. Her wet costume rests atop a stand leaving the moisture to drip and fizzle near the fireplace. When not watching over her, Vic would be outside keeping watch and chopping wood for logs. Helena rarely made any stirs since her arrival. It is a minor thing that Question got her out of the river quickly, but then he when driven can do things that surprise even him. All this goes without asking or saying aloud.

Her face bears the marks of her scuffle with Nightwing and his handiwork is evident from her still healing lower lip, the black mark around her swollen eye, and other signs of what happen almost a week ago. It doesn't take much to realize she hit bottom in more ways than one after falling into Gotham's East River. The Huntress now faces enemies from all sides or at least that's what her recent actions imply to Richard Dragon yet she couldn't ask for a better ally than the Question because the man is loyal to a fault. Besides if his former student is in love with the Huntress, with Helena Bertinelli, than he would never allow her to face this danger alone despite the Sicilian philosophy known as _omerta_.

Why else would she have told him to search where they both thought there would be nothing to find?

He might not say it, but Question didn't like being right. He likely had seen that her going to the reporter's apartment would put her in many cross-hairs. He could have been too late to pull her from the river, but Question's sense of timing is often enviable. Just because something can happen, doesn't mean that it will yet that won't keep someone like Question from thinking about worst case scenarios.

Richard is busy brewing tea when Helena finally does more than twist and turn under the covers. The swelling around her left eye is coming down, which is to say a minor physical improvement to her condition. He pours her some tea into a mug and hands it to her once she slides up into a sitting position on the mattress. She is expectedly cautious about the liquid in the mug.

"Richard Dragon. Canada. The butterfly brought you."

She slowly sips the tea while realizing immediately who he means by butterfly.

"That should answer some of your questions."

Question went and drove them as far away from Gotham City as they could get on a full tank of gas.

"It is green tea, with some apple blossom and honey. Good for you - it'll clear your head. Has lots of antioxidants."

Richard is threading a needle and using it to sew up her costume.

"Got the blood stains out of this the best I could."

He realizes she is within inches of him holding the mug lower to her waistline. His threading is constant even with her slamming the mug against the wooden table. Concentration is essential to any task involving one's hands and necessary to focus one's mind via attention to detail. She in a single motion goes from gripping the mug handle to pulling on his shirt collar.

"Too much honey?" asks Richard.

"Listen Richard… my tolerance for games right now is nil. So you tell me what's going on… or so help me I'll sew your face shut!" fumes Helena.

She doesn't really intend to follow up her bluff. She is going on instinct yet given what's gone in the past week Helena is loathe to trust herself or her decisions. None as of late have done her much good.

"Saving your bacon," dryly remarks Vic.

Helena turns in surprise to see Vic in the doorway with a pile of chopped logs in his arms. Still surprises as of late have not been welcoming ones for her yet this is one she could weakly smile at because it is him.

"I'll make supper."

Richard moves towards the stove to attend to an array of pans and pots. Helena shuffles away towards a window. Vic takes the logs to the fireplace as the flames have been dying down all day and it is getting dark so getting the flames going again is preferable even in the Canadian Wilderness. Richard says he's got rice cooking, which is something Vic naturally declines. Still whatever is cooking should be filling for anyone who is hungry enough.

"I miss much?"

"She's still groggy…"

"And pissed off."

Helena sinks her bruised face into her hands. She starts to see where Vic must have been learning his people reading skills among other things from by listening to them banter about her of all people.

"So how long have you two been together?"

"Nearly three years now."

Both notice Helena is still holding her face in her hands and not touching the plate of food in front of her at the table.

"You really ought to eat something," suggests Richard gently.

"What am I doing here?" sniffs Helena quietly.

"Sensei, why don't you leave us alone for a few?"

"I'll be outside."

Richard is soon out of their sight yet words do not flow easily between them.

"We have known violence and rage… alone and together."

Vic usually is being atypically forward and it is off putting change-up for both of them.

"We wear masks to hide from others… and more so ourselves."

He pours himself a cup of tea and refills her mug.

"Why did you call him sensei and why did he call you butterfly?"

"It is Zen philosophy. Years ago I lost a fight to Lady Shiva and she beat me almost to death. She left me in this very cabin. Sensei means teacher and I was his student. You can either learn or leave him."

"What exactly does he teach?"

"How to live."

"I already know how to do that."

"No. You know how to keep from dying."

He sips the tea and looks straight at her.

"That's basic to everyone."

It is not easy to look at her like this, but then he could only imagine how she much felt looking at him after taking his mask off in the Watchtower-II Infirmary. He recalls reminding her of a past comment about his looks and she in turn said not in my eyes. She loves him. He loves her. It should be enough, but there are always things we all must do alone. They both had thought so more than once that they must go it alone yet both recall what follows such thinking.

"You are isolating yourself and driving away all those who could help you."

It is no longer only her body that aches or her face that hurts, but so to does her heart sink hearing him say these words as if now after these years is he passing judgment on her. She thought him so different from all men, but it would seem even he could no longer hold his tongue. He didn't judging her by her perceived mistakes yet someone had to do it in a way other than forcing her to give up her ability to decide her own path rather than force her to play by rules that people rarely follow well.

"Your injuries will heal. Your costume is fixable. You can leave here and reach Gotham in three days."

She could sense a prediction at the end of this line.

"Do that, you'll be dead inside of six."

He could be wrong. He's been wrong before.

"You think."

"I know. Like I said, I know you."

He refills his tea mug again.

"You'll get back and start busting heads, trying to find a lead who is framing you…"

She could tell he always did his homework. She thought she had left her old ways behind her yet she feels out of time for proving her innocence, which means not leaving her salvation in the hands of others. All the same, he really does know her instincts.

"Sooner or later – probably sooner – the GCPD or Batman or both will corner you. In that moment, you'll have a decision… fight or flight."

He replenishes her mug. She knows him too. He says what he believes will unfold if she goes solo on this, which is something he doesn't support, but he won't stop her from doing what she feels is right. Batman and the others would insist she stay out of the way until it is over. The problem is she doesn't do waiting.

"One way or another, you'll ultimately lose."

It is hard to retain an objective tone with her when talking odds… talking about her odds.

"Trust me I know the trajectory on this."

He looks downward with a firm hold on his mug. It doesn't take much for either to recall how their partnership had become relationship while he was seeking Cadmus or what that pursuit almost did to him. They made it through all that, but it could just as easily gone the other way. If it had, they wouldn't be having this conversation for starters and as for the rest they don't want to think about it, let alone talk about it.

"You survived."

"I didn't actually… I died."

He couldn't find the words to describe what the torture did to him emotionally and psychologically. He did not have to with her for she could see it in his eyes and she too found her fears made all too real by Scarecrow. They didn't always need words to say what needs saying. Their free hands overlap on the wooden table beneath the steamy mugs on its surface.

"I was lucky... because of you."

The lucky element deals with her coming after him. If she had gone alone that night, she could have died, but she had Superman for backup. If she died that night because she went after him, then he would be dead on the inside. Her coming into his life brought to him a way to be human again. Her frustration lessens from his fingers against hers. She couldn't stay annoyed at him.

"You don't have much luck left."

He won't get in her way and she can't leave him out.

She eats a light meal before turning in for the night and he stays in bed with her that night despite how cramped it is for two to sleep on a cabin cot. He feels as if he finally got through to her and as for her despite her inclinations she would remain with Richard until she is ready to leave this place. He falls asleep watching her sleep more peacefully then she had in days.

* * *

Vic finds Richard outside the cabin the following morning.

"She'll give you a chance."

"Think she'll give me as much grief as you did?"

"More probably."

He places his fedora back on his head and starts the long walk back to 'civilization'.

"Where are you headed, Butterfly?"

"Gotham... I've got some questions. Take care of her, Richard."

Richard already knows what they are to each other and only when Vic is practically out of hearing range does the Sensei express what she is to him.

"Of course Vic… she's your other half."

* * *

Their lessons begin not long after Vic is far from them. One finds Richard and Helena are barefoot in the grass. He begins with all too familiar movements to her mind. At first they move in sync.

"I already know Tai Chi, Richard."

She replicates his stances with ease. They continue for hours and soon she grows restless. Before long she expresses her discontent yet not even her words can interrupt his posture. All the same he is keenly aware of her desire to speed things up. This would make things more challenging just to get her to realize the way she operates is not the only way.

"How many times are we going to do this?"

"Does it matter?"

Outwardly she seems faster than him yet inwardly he finds balance in near stillness. Before long she falls flat on her hips while watching him shift around with more balance than she had seen in anyone.

"Remember to breathe… it's the simple essence of life."

It almost made her cry even as a butterfly lands on the flat side of one of his hands. He said little for the rest of the session and left her on the spot. She knows the way back to the cabin and seems to be in need of solitude if only for awhile. Helena agreed to stay yet she did not know what she was getting into by revisiting someone like Richard Dragon for she had seen once before years ago except she was still learning from whoever would teach her different ways to defend or fight.

She realizes that living means more than surviving and loving is more than feeling for another. As the realization settles into her, the butterfly lands on her hand and ever so slowly stills in place. Helena could consider this happenstance a step to living and as the sun starts to set the butterfly flaps away from her. It is time to back to the cabin and hope that Batman didn't think to look this far north for her. All the same, he probably is being kept busy either by the Arkhamites or by the League anything to keep him out of her for awhile longer would be enough for her.

* * *

**Hub City**

The last time he went this far with a bulletin board is when he was investigating Cadmus. This time the photos all over it are of various crime family personalities going back decades. He is familiar enough with those who run the shows and behind the scenes now, but this new problem is starting to look like a very old one, almost as old as him. There is almost no one still alive left to interrogate or shadow from those years yet he found Cadmus without almost anything to go on either.

He sought out Cadmus because his sense of duty and loyalty runs deeper than he knows yet with Cadmus watching the League that meant they could pose a threat to costumes (and metahumans) worldwide. Now with many hunting the Huntress, his compulsion is different, personal, and so he begins to wonder if this is how she felt when she went into Cadmus after him. He believes it to be probable that she felt this way for she put her own safety aside just to get him back so he could do no less with her life in definite danger from seen and unseen enemies watching for her reappearance.

* * *

**Gotham City **

The current Godfather – Pasquale Galante, Junior – owes his ascension to the death of the previous one at the hands of Mandragora, which left Helena an orphan. He seems to stand to gain the most by having the police instead lean harder on vigilantes because until Claudius there was never a costume killing mobsters, at least not officially. The Phantasm is the exception, but most who know about that are dead, deranged, or silent. Phantasm's connections to her victims is her father was their financial adviser/investor except he had been skimming them for years so that he could afford a better lifestyle for her. In the end, a hit man comes for him and she is left to find his body as she passes the hit man on the street, which is what made her run the rest of the way 'home'. She was too late, but they would pay in her mind yet her pursuit vengeance brought her full circle back to Gotham City.

Her intentions put Batman in the crossfire because Reeves and Bullock assume the worst yet it is only Commissioner Gordon who remains Batman's advocate. The only others who know he has nothing to do with the murders is Phantasm herself and Joker because he uses her victim's corpse as bait. The clown assumes like some that Batman is finally a killer. A camera left with the corpse reveals the real killer yet Joker still tries to blow her up. It fails so he goes bigger by rigging the rundown Gotham City Expo to explode after both she and Batman are on the scene.

Joker due to his past life is already her fourth target despite him having killed her third target and using his corpse as bait. She claims she did all this for what she lost since fleeing the country with her father years earlier yet Batman counters by questioning her pursuit of vengeance. Her response likely left him at a loss for words. She let Joker go and Batman never saw her again or at least that's what Question could gather from what he found about Bruce's relationship with Phantasm's alter-ego Andrea Beaumont.

The vacuum left by the deaths of Charles 'Chuckie' Sol, Buzz Bronski, and Salvatore 'Sal' Valestra doesn't last long as others would move in on their operations regardless of the scope or size of them. The takeovers were quick and quiet. Batman likely did not mind the ease by which the mafia underworld took to dealing with the loss of three past their times mobsters. One's man loss is another man's gain makes it sound simplistic, it really isn't. Likewise the Five Families, at least the older members would not have a non-Five mess ruin the peace between them.

Many thought Sol for his laundering and racketeering would either cease with an accident or a sentence. He got both when he drove his car head on towards Phantasm only for the vehicle to dive out of the multi-level parking garage and into a nearby building. Lastly Bronski found out he digs his own grave while paying respects to the late Chuckie Sol. He falls into an open grave and likely in horror watches an angelic statue fall towards in the darkness of the grave. Valestra's last mistake is going to Joker for help, but Valestra isn't alone in this mistake for Councilman Reeves shares it because he is the only other one left besides Sal and Andrea to know the whole story.

His connections to the dead mobsters come out later, which costs him his council seat yet by then he is no longer mentally fit to stand trial for his crimes. Whatever Joker did to him was irreversible despite whatever the doctors sought to do for him. Recent history aside, the mafia underworld is adaptable, but even they cannot tolerate persistent disruptions regardless of its origins. This is why they hunt the Huntress and her other pursuers share similar motivations. However there is still someone or something that stays hidden while making others run her down so that in the end she would presumably turn to the very source of what frames her for her crimes.

It took more digging than he had done in more than a year in order to track down something even he didn't know about when his initial attraction and fascination towards the Huntress took hold during his search for Cadmus and that organization's agenda. His investigation into the Five Families and more specifically Maria Bertinelli only manages to show a link between her a GCPD detective who was acting an informant for the FBI back in the day. This detective name was Jim Corrigan yet nobody quite knows what happen to him other than the fact that he was presumably murdered the same year that Helena's parents were slain by Steven Mandragora.

Multiple dead ends for potential suspects are starting to grate Question yet he couldn't give up hope. Of all the links to Helena's parents only Pasquale and Santo are the only individuals still alive from those days as the rest are either too young or not alive at that time. Still a further blank remains because of Jim Corrigan, aside from him being an investigator. Something about the frequency of Corrigan's notes, at least the ones he found so far indicate that Corrigan's fate is tied to the Bertinellis in a way that few ever though possible, but then for now that is a leap.

Corrigan likewise is not a squeaky clean investigator yet he did his duty to his end. There is no way to exactly know what happen to him since his records and journal halt abruptly the same week that Mandragora made his move against the Bertinellis. It could connect, but like his fate, still a mystery. Further he digs the more Question finds perplexing because for once he thinks the past holds sway of many including the woman he is in love with who feels that more than just her past is shadowing her now.

Question similarly suspects that someone other than him, Batman, the GCPD, and the mafia is looking for Huntress, for Helena, because someone outside the costumes knows that Helena is the Huntress.

* * *

**Canada**

Some weeks later, Helena finds her costume, her mask, and her tools on her bed.

"Why is this here?"

"I have done what I can, but your time is here over. The next step is out that door."

As she is putting on travel clothes, Vic walks in with two ready travel bags. She unexpectedly inhales familiar scents from one of the bag. Vic had come back with products that were either from her apartment's bathroom or he bought new ones in one of the bags sitting on the floor. She takes that bag to pack her costume and gear in before turning to look at him. Helena had not gone a day without thinking about running her fingers through his hair, staring into his inquisitive eyes, and especially the way their lips meet when she uses different shades of lipstick on him.

"So tell me about the Huntress," suggests Vic.

"If you know me then you know her," remarks Helena.

"I saw Huntress reborn. Tell me about her birth."

"Out here makes me feel like I could be looking at Sicily except I know its not. So for me Huntress as you know her today had her origins in my life after leaving America for Sicily. I had heard stories about it from my father, from other members of the Families, but hearing is one thing, seeing is another."

"So the Family sent you to Sicily?"

"They sent me to stay with the Asaro Family, their cousins by alliance and blood."

So past meets present as she starts to tell Vic about her years with the Asaros in Sicily. The journey across the sea begins not longer after her parents' funeral and she recounts her most vivid memory of all the Families sending bouquets of flowers. Alliances and bloodlines could link the families yet either is only as strong as it is weakest link or so the saying goes.

"Lately I wonder if minding me had more to do with guilt than it did with responsibility."

He just listens because it is one of the few things he feels he is usually able to do right especially by her.

She mentions Tony and Rosie Angelo who were close to her family before her parents were killed. Something she eventually comes to share with Tony is losing loved ones because Tony lost his sister yet over the years she and Tony lost touch. She regrets losing him because he was a rare thing to have after losing her parents, someone like a brother she never had, but then he did his best for her even after losing Rosie. It feels like a punishment to survive when loved ones die violent deaths, this is clear to anyone who spends more time listening and watching instead of talking and walking.

All left undone and unsaid is looking like the only way to find answers to questions she thought she put to rest years ago, but then someone wants to remind her of that which she never really forgets ever. Still as she leans against him in their seats on the charter bus, she believes in him because he believes in her and for now that's plenty for her aside from their love. They would do this together or not at all that is the unspoken deal between them as the bus pulls away from the station.

* * *

A/N 1: Richard Dragon, Zen teacher, tea brewer, deep thinker - he plays a pivotal role in what Helena needs to learn. Much of the dialogue is again a lift from certain conversations in the comics, but some of it is not. Some of it wouldn't apply given the continuity I'm using for this story.

A/N 2: Several references made to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which is a film that deals both with the origins of Batman and with him being a prime suspect in the mobster murders. It feels like a notable parallel to what's happening to the Huntress.

A/N 3: Jim Corrigan is a cop who was murdered and became the Spectre in the comics. He doesn't appear in Cry For Blood, but there is someone who is keeping tabs on the mafia families back before and after Helena was born. Having him in the story is due to DC Showcase: The Spectre. Since there is likely to be flashback chapters ahead.

A/N 4: I realize more than a month has passed since my last update, but as much as writing is... it takes time and my health has been iffy.


End file.
